Daily Devotions with Greg Laurie – Monday,
3 February 2014 – “Sleepwalking”
Be on your guard, not asleep like the
others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.-—1 Thessalonians 5:6
Have you ever gone sleepwalking? It's
kind of scary, really — especially the next day when someone tells you what you
did.
There are people in the church today who
have gone to sleep. They aren't watching the signs of the times. There is a
lethargy, a passiveness — even a laziness — in some Christians. There is an
apparent disconnect between their so-called spiritual lives and real lives.
Instead of walking in the Spirit, some believers are sleepwalking.
We need to wake up. The Bible says,
"So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be
clearheaded" (1 Thessalonians 5:6, NLT).
In other words, we need to wake up to the
urgency of the time. We need to wake up to the imminence of the Lord's return.
We also need to sober up. First
Thessalonians 5 goes on to say, "Night is the time when people sleep and
drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected
by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our
salvation" (verses 7-8, NLT).
I think we can interpret this both
literally and figuratively. An obvious interpretation is, don't get drunk.
Don't be under the influence of anyone or anything except Jesus Christ. But
figuratively speaking, we can be intoxicated with other things. Jesus said,
"Watch out! Don't let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness,
and by the worries of this life. Don't let that day catch you unaware"
(Luke 21:34, NLT). What you will eat or wear or where you will live are normal
human concerns as you provide for yourself and your family. But let's not allow
these things to become our preoccupation.
Let's not allow ourselves to become
intoxicated with things that aren't the main thing.
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Today’s Reading:
Exodus 35: Sabbath Regulations
1 Moses assembled all the congregation of
the Israelites and said to them: These are the things that the Lord has
commanded you to do:
2 Six days shall work be done, but on the
seventh day you shall have a holy sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord; whoever
does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire in all
your dwellings on the sabbath day.
Preparations for Making the Tabernacle
4 Moses said to all the congregation of
the Israelites: This is the thing that the Lord has commanded: 5 Take from
among you an offering to the Lord; let whoever is of a generous heart bring the
Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and crimson yarns,
and fine linen; goats’ hair, 7 tanned rams’ skins, and fine leather;[a] acacia
wood, 8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant
incense, 9 and onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece.
10 All who are skillful among you shall
come and make all that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle, 11 its tent and
its covering, its clasps and its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases;
12 the ark with its poles, the mercy seat,[b] and the curtain for the screen;
13 the table with its poles and all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence;
14 the lampstand also for the light, with its utensils and its lamps, and the
oil for the light; 15 and the altar of incense, with its poles, and the
anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the entrance, the
entrance of the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of
bronze, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin with its stand; 17 the
hangings of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate
of the court; 18 the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court, and
their cords; 19 the finely worked vestments for ministering in the holy place,
the holy vestments for the priest Aaron, and the vestments of his sons, for
their service as priests.
Offerings for the Tabernacle
20 Then all the congregation of the
Israelites withdrew from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, everyone
whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the
Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and
for the sacred vestments. 22 So they came, both men and women; all who were of
a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants,
all sorts of gold objects, everyone bringing an offering of gold to the Lord.
23 And everyone who possessed blue or purple or crimson yarn or fine linen or
goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or fine leather,[c] brought them. 24 Everyone
who could make an offering of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s
offering; and everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work,
brought it. 25 All the skillful women spun with their hands, and brought what
they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and fine linen; 26 all the
women whose hearts moved them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. 27 And
the leaders brought onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the
breastpiece, 28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil,
and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the Israelite men and women whose hearts
made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by
Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.
Bezalel and Oholiab
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites:
See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of
Judah; 31 he has filled him with divine spirit,[d] with skill, intelligence,
and knowledge in every kind of craft, 32 to devise artistic designs, to work in
gold, silver, and bronze, 33 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving
wood, in every kind of craft. 34 And he has inspired him to teach, both him and
Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with skill
to do every kind of work done by an artisan or by a designer or by an
embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen, or by a
weaver—by any sort of artisan or skilled designer.
36: Bezalel and Oholiab and every
skillful one to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding to know how to
do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with
all that the Lord has commanded.
2 Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab
and every skillful one to whom the Lord had given skill, everyone whose heart
was stirred to come to do the work; 3 and they received from Moses all the
freewill offerings that the Israelites had brought for doing the work on the
sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4 so
that all the artisans who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came,
each from the task being performed, 5 and said to Moses, “The people are
bringing much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded
us to do.” 6 So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the
camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the
sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing; 7 for what they had
already brought was more than enough to do all the work.
Construction of the Tabernacle
8 All those with skill among the workers
made the tabernacle with ten curtains; they were made of fine twisted linen,
and blue, purple, and crimson yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked into them.
9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each
curtain four cubits; all the curtains were of the same size.
10 He joined five curtains to one
another, and the other five curtains he joined to one another. 11 He made loops
of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set; likewise he made
them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set; 12 he made fifty
loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain
that was in the second set; the loops were opposite one another. 13 And he made
fifty clasps of gold, and joined the curtains one to the other with clasps; so
the tabernacle was one whole.
14 He also made curtains of goats’ hair
for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains. 15 The length of each
curtain was thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the
eleven curtains were of the same size. 16 He joined five curtains by
themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 He made fifty loops on the edge
of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the
other connecting curtain. 18 He made fifty clasps of bronze to join the tent
together so that it might be one whole. 19 And he made for the tent a covering
of tanned rams’ skins and an outer covering of fine leather.[e]
20 Then he made the upright frames for
the tabernacle of acacia wood. 21 Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a
cubit and a half the width of each frame. 22 Each frame had two pegs for
fitting together; he did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. 23 The
frames for the tabernacle he made in this way: twenty frames for the south
side; 24 and he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases
under the first frame for its two pegs, and two bases under the next frame for
its two pegs. 25 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he
made twenty frames 26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under the
first frame and two bases under the next frame. 27 For the rear of the
tabernacle westward he made six frames. 28 He made two frames for corners of
the tabernacle in the rear. 29 They were separate beneath, but joined at the
top, at the first ring; he made two of them in this way, for the two corners.
30 There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under
every frame two bases.
31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for
the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, 32 and five bars for the frames
of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the
tabernacle at the rear westward. 33 He made the middle bar to pass through from
end to end halfway up the frames. 34 And he overlaid the frames with gold, and
made rings of gold for them to hold the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
35 He made the curtain of blue, purple,
and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into
it. 36 For it he made four pillars of acacia, and overlaid them with gold;
their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver. 37 He also
made a screen for the entrance to the tent, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns,
and fine twisted linen, embroidered with needlework; 38 and its five pillars
with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their bases with gold, but
their five bases were of bronze.
Footnotes:
a. Exodus 35:7 Meaning of Heb uncertain
b. Exodus 35:12 Or the cover
c. Exodus 35:23 Meaning of Heb uncertain
d. Exodus 35:31 Or the spirit of God
e. Exodus 36:19 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Acts 10: Peter and Cornelius
1 In Caesarea there was a man named
Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. 2 He was a
devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to
the people and prayed constantly to God. 3 One afternoon at about three o’clock
he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to
him, “Cornelius.” 4 He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He
answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5
Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; 6 he is lodging
with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” 7 When the angel who
spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from
the ranks of those who served him, 8 and after telling them everything, he sent
them to Joppa.
9 About noon the next day, as they were
on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being
prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the heaven opened and something like
a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12
In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the
air. 13 Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But
Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane
or unclean.” 15 The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made
clean, you must not call profane.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing
was suddenly taken up to heaven.
17 Now while Peter was greatly puzzled
about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by
Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the
gate. 18 They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was
staying there. 19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit
said to him, “Look, three[a] men are searching for you. 20 Now get up, go down,
and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them.” 21 So Peter went
down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason
for your coming?” 22 They answered, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and
God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed
by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have
to say.” 23 So Peter[b] invited them in and gave them lodging.
The next day he got up and went with
them, and some of the believers[c] from Joppa accompanied him. 24 The following
day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together
his relatives and close friends. 25 On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and
falling at his feet, worshiped him. 26 But Peter made him get up, saying,
“Stand up; I am only a mortal.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and
found that many had assembled; 28 and he said to them, “You yourselves know
that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God
has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. 29 So when I was
sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?”
30 Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at
this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man
in dazzling clothes stood before me. 31 He said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has
been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to
Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of
Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you
have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God
to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.”
Gentiles Hear the Good News
34 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I
truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone
who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 You know the
message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is
Lord of all. 37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee
after the baptism that John announced: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with
the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all
who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 We are witnesses to
all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by
hanging him on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him
to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as
witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He
commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained
by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about
him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his
name.”
Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
44 While Peter was still speaking, the
Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45 The circumcised believers who
had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been
poured out even on the Gentiles, 46 for they heard them speaking in tongues and
extolling God. Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing
these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 So he
ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him
to stay for several days.
Footnotes:
a. Acts 10:19 One ancient authority reads
two; others lack the word
b. Acts 10:23 Gk he
c. Acts 10:23 Gk brothers
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie
P.O. Box 4000
Riverside, CA 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1(800)821-3300
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